Fraser Island, Queensland
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View from Indian Head, Fraser Island, Queensland, Australia |
Fraser Island, aboriginal
K'Gari, is the largest
sand island in the world at 1630 km². It was inscribed as a
World Heritage site in
1992.
Fraser Island is located off the east
coast of
Australia approximately 200
km north of
Brisbane,
Queensland. With Cooloola, the island forms the Great Sandy Region, stretching 175 km north to south, varying in width up to 25 km, with the highest elevation of 260 m. The Fraser Island area is protected in the name of
Great Sandy National Park. The island itself contains more sand than the
Sahara Desert.
The island is reached by
ferry and a four-wheel drive vehicle is a requirement. There are plenty of available
campsites with views of the
ocean and migrating
whales. There are also restricted areas where the land is left to rehabilitate.
Tour buses do travel the island but renting a
four-wheel drive and driving on the beach and on the sand roads is a popular pastime.
The
freshwater lakes on Fraser Island are some of the cleanest lakes in the world. The most popular is Lake McKenzie which is inland from the small town of Eurong. It is a "perched" lake sitting on top of compact sand and
vegetable matter 100 metres above sea level. Lake McKenzie has an area of 150 hectares and is just over five metres in depth
The beach sand is nearly pure
silica and is good for washing
hair,
teeth,
jewelry, and exfoliating the
skin. The lakes have very few nutrients and are slightly acidic, though
Sunscreen and
soaps are a problem as a form of
pollution.
Eli Creek is a popular place to swim on the east coast of the island, as the water is fresh and cool year round. There is a
boardwalk for walks through the bush.
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The beach at Lake McKenzie |
Railway Central Station remains as a popular tourism destination on the island. The station is surrounded by bushwalking tracks to enable full appreciation of the variety of plants living on the island. Some of the rarest ferns grow along the rainforest near the station. With year-round south-easterly wind, huge sand dunes on the island move at the rate of 1 - 2 metres a year, burying away everything on the way, thus making sand on the island extremely rich with nutrients. Sand is constantly washed ashore from as far as New South Wales.
The trees on Fraser island were logged extensively as they made excellent timber due to the rich sand full of minerals and silicone. Some of the Fraser island timber found its way into the walls of Suez Canal. Logging took place right through to the mid 1900s. Railroad tracks were laid through the forest to facilitate logging, but were later removed.
Wreck of the Maheno
A major landmark of Fraser Island is the shipwreck of the
Maheno. On June 25th, 1935 she was being towed from
Melbourne to
Japan for
scrap metal when she was caught in a strong
cyclone. A few days later, on July 1935 she drifted ashore and was beached on Fraser Island. She has since become severely rusted and climbing on the shipwreck is not permitted.
Nauru resettlement proposition
In the
1950s, Fraser Island was proposed by Australia as a location for the resettlement of the entire population of the
Republic of Nauru. Experiencing racial discrimination, Nauru rejected the offer of moving the entire population to Fraser Island, and new prospects for the movement of the entire
Nauruan population to an Australian location still seem fraught with difficulties.
Dingos are common on the island. These animals are some of the last remaining pure dingos; to prevent cross-breeding,
dogs are not allowed on the island. There was no history of dingoes attacking humans on Fraser Island up until
1995. In
2001, a boy wandered away from his family and was discovered dead, with indications of a dingo attack. A year or so before a baby was snatched from a campsite but the mother and father saved the baby by chasing off the dingo that had the baby in its jaws. There is also evidence that an English tourist was hunted by dingos; whether or not they were responsible for his death is uncertain and the true circumstances of his death may never be known. The relationship between dingo attacks on humans on Fraser Island is documented on a major National Geographic Special "The Dingos of Fraser Island". Caution should be exercised by all families and especially those with small children. It is also wise to secure one's shoes as dingos sometimes take a shoe and chew it to an unusable condition. The remaining number of dingos on the island is estimated to be approximately 150.
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Creek near Central Station |
The original name of the island is 'K'gari' in the Butchulla people's language. It means
paradise. The arrival of
European settlers in the area was an overwhelming disaster for the Butchulla people. There are currently no aboriginal tribes living on Fraser Island.
The name Fraser Island comes from
Eliza Fraser. Captain James Fraser and his wife, Eliza Fraser, were shipwrecked on the island. The name of the ship was the
Stirling Castle. Captain Fraser died but Eliza made it off the island. After that Eliza made money travelling around
England and Australia telling her story of the events that had occurred while the
Stirling Castle's officers were on the island. She is known to have told several versions of the story; it is unknown which version is the most accurate.
* Satellite image from
Google Maps*
Fraser Island travel photos including gallery of all of Australia.
